PROJECT DISPATCH
You have 5 million paid subscriptions and 1.8 million active creators globally. The continent producing some of the world's most vital writing, journalism, and intellectual discourse does not appear in your growth strategy once.
I Read Your Platform Daily. I Also See What You Are Missing.
I am a Digital Strategist based in Abuja, Nigeria. I use Substack both as a reader and as someone who understands how newsletter platforms grow. I follow African writers on your platform, I see the conversations happening in your notes feed, and I understand the ecosystem of African journalism, analysis, and creative nonfiction that is sitting just outside the edge of your current strategy.
The writers, journalists, and intellectuals producing some of the continent's most important work are already on Substack. They have found you without any help from your side. What they have not found is a platform that has found them back.
"Your platform is built for writers who want independence. Africa has produced some of the world's most important independent voices. You have not introduced yourself to them yet."
You Are Growing Fast. But Your Creator Map Has a Continent-Shaped Hole in It.
Your growth in 2025 is exceptional. You went from 4 million to 5 million paid subscriptions in four months. Your top 10 publishers now collectively earn over $40 million annually. That is a platform that works. The question is: works for whom?
Your Platform Is Built for Independent Writers. Africa Has Thousands of Them Who Have Never Heard From You.
The structural gaps between what you offer and what African creators experience are not product gaps. They are engagement, accessibility, and narrative gaps. Here is exactly where they live.
The Writing Is Already Happening. The Platform Has Not Caught Up With It.
African writers are producing extraordinary work across journalism, political analysis, creative nonfiction, technology commentary, and literature. They are doing it independently, on newsletters, on platforms including yours. Here is what that ecosystem actually looks like.
Here Is What I Am Proposing You Build.
This is not a cultural diversity initiative. It is a creator acquisition and revenue growth strategy anchored in a continent your competitors have also ignored, which means whoever moves first owns the relationship.
Five Pillars. A Continent of Writers Waiting to Be Found.
Africa Creator Spotlight Programme
Your editorial credibility is one of your strongest growth tools. When you feature a creator, their subscriber count jumps. You have this power and have never pointed it at Africa. A structured Africa creator spotlight programme would signal continental intent and trigger organic growth from a creator community that is already watching how you treat writers outside the West.
Solving the Payment Infrastructure Problem
Your monetisation story is your most powerful creator acquisition tool. For African writers, the story breaks at the point of receiving payment. You need to solve this or partner with someone who already has. This is a technical and commercial challenge but it is also the single most impactful thing you could do for African creator growth.
Ecosystem and Community Building
African writing communities, literary festivals, and journalism associations are your natural distribution partners. None of them have an official relationship with you. Entering these ecosystems with genuine investment, not just logo placement, would give you access to creator networks that would take years to build from scratch.
Francophone Africa: A Completely Untouched Market
You are an English-language platform that has not yet invested in serving the 300 million French speakers across 24 African countries who represent an entirely separate and equally rich writing and publishing tradition. This is not a translation problem. It is a presence problem.
Africa's Independent Journalism Pipeline
Press freedom challenges, newsroom closures, and the collapse of advertising-funded media across Africa have produced a generation of journalists who need exactly what you built. They are looking for a platform that can support their independence. You have not introduced yourself.
You Need Someone Who Reads the Writing and Understands the Business.
You do not need someone who will study the African writing landscape from the outside. You need someone already inside the ecosystem, who understands both the cultural texture and the commercial mechanics of growing a creator platform on the continent.
Not a Job Application. A Case for a Market You Have Not Yet Built.
If this document has helped you see a gap in your creator acquisition strategy, and if it has demonstrated that I have the ground-level knowledge and strategic skill to close it, then the next step is a conversation.
A remote Digital Strategy role focused on your Africa creator market, with clear KPIs tied to publication growth, creator monetisation activation, ecosystem partnerships, and Substack's first named Africa revenue contribution.
This is not a community manager role. It is a market-building role. And it is one you have not yet filled.